Paris, 1938. The Peruvian poet Cesar Vallejo lies dying in hospital. He's hiccupping himself to death. When the doctors struggle to offer a diagnosis his wife calls on an acquaintance of her friend Madame Reynaud, the mesmerist and reclusive bachelor Pierre Pain. Pain, in love with the widow Reynaud and eager to impress, agrees to help. But on a night that `smells of something strange', things soon go awry . . .

After the appearance of two mysterious Spaniards, Monsieur Pain finds his access to the hospital barred; Madame Reynaud leaves Paris and he is left alone. Ravaged by guilt and anxiety, he wanders the rainy, crepuscular streets. Then he encounters fellow mesmerist Plomeur-Boudou (who's working as a torturer for Franco, using his expertise to interrogate prisoners) and things become darker still.

This brief, wonderfully oneiric novel blends the finest of Edgar Allan Poe with Jorge Luis Borges and, through Bolano's truly astonishing alchemical gift, produces a gripping noir conspiracy as rich as it is strange.